Boolean Searches & Customized LinkedIn URLs

Weekly Round-Up

Ever heard of Boolean searches? They're a way to your limit or require specific results when searching. They can be incredibly useful in your job search. Let's talk about a few Boolean operators:

AND - this will limit your results to items that contain both keywords. So, if you want to search for something that has marketing and sales, your search would look like this:

marketing AND sales

OR - this expands your search results to include at least one or both of the keywords. So, if you want to find a role that uses coding languages C#, C++, or Python, your search would look like this:

C# OR C++ or Python

Quotation marks " " - these allow you to get results containing an exact phrase. So, if you only want the exact title of HR Director, your search would look like this:

"HR Director"

NOT - this excludes search results you're not looking for. So, let's say you want to be a project manager but don't want to do anything related to software development; your search would look like this:

Project manager NOT "software development"

Parentheses ( ) - these let you group multiple Boolean search strings into one complex search. So, if you want the exact title of HR Manager or HR Director in a healthcare or tech company, your search would look like this:

("HR Director" or "HR Manager") AND ("healthcare" OR "tech")

site: - this will help you search for keywords within a certain site. So for example, greenhouse.io is a commonly used hiring platform where companies post jobs. If you want to find a job specifically on there, your search would look like:

site:greenhouse.io

Remember, when using Boolean operators in searches, they must be in ALL CAPS.

Now that we have the basics let's look at a detailed Boolean search. In this example, we are looking for a Project Manager or Program Manager position in healthcare or biotech and were posted on Lever or Greenhouse.

site: lever.io | site:greenhouse.io ("Project Manager" OR "Program Manager") AND ("healthcare" OR "biotech")

You can use Boolean searches almost anywhere with a search bar. So, say you're on LinkedIn, and you want to see who might be hiring for an HR role; in the LinkedIn search bar, you would put:

("I'm hiring" OR "I am hiring") AND ("Human Resources" OR "HR")

Then, filter the results by posts, and you will see who is hiring for HR roles!

If this is too much for you, remember that you can use your AI friends to help you develop the correct Boolean search string!

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Did you know you could customize your LinkedIn URL? You can and you should! LinkedIn assigns you a URL that is usually a play-off of your name and has a ton of random numbers. This URL could look unattractive on hiring documents or just take up too much space. Here's how you customize it (in your web browser, not mobile app):

1. Go to your profile
2. On the right-hand side, click "Edit public profile & URL"
3. Personalize your URL (remove the numbers OR get a little creative if you have a common name because that URL might already be taken)

LinkedIn has an article you can read to walk you through it. If you need more assistance, click here.

Alternative Job Search Sites

Where do you search for your jobs?

If you said LinkedIn, Indeed, or Glassdoor, then you might be getting caught up with tons of applicants.

In past newsletters, I gave 15 alternative sites for you to consider using; here are 5 more (especially for those of you in tech):

1. Dice - General Tech
2. devIT - IT & Software Jobs
3. GoodPeople - General Tech
4. Black Tech Pipeline - Connecting Black tech talent with hiring companies
5. Tech Jobs for Good - Values-based tech roles

Stop Being Afraid of AI

I want you to learn how to utilize AI to your advantage in your job search and career.

In previous newsletters, I shared 4 AI systems you could use: ChatGPT, Gemini AI, Perplexity, and HIX.

In every newsletter, I will share a new prompt you can try in AI systems to help you out! So far, we've covered prompts to identify keywords and phrases and get feedback on your resume.

This week, here's a prompt that can help you identify transferrable skills if to help you write your LinkedIn summary:

You are a resume writer and LinkedIn expert. I am going to provide you with my resume. I want you to use it to create a compelling LinkedIn summary that sells me as a candidate as a leader and the best person for [INSERT JOB TITLE] job. Do not copy the resume verbaitim, instead use your own language and language you can identify from job descriptions. The summary should be personable, anywhere between 600 and 900 characters, and should not include emojis.

Copy and paste in your resume (without your name and contact information, hit enter, and let the system do its thing!

REMEMBER: AI should only be used as a thought partner, meaning you should never just copy and paste over something from AI. You will still need to customize it and make it sound like you.

Career Tools

Ever wondered what the Applicant Tracking System thinks about your resume? Well, Jobscan can help you out! Jobscan can help you optimize your reach for any job.

First, you'd upload or copy and paste in your resume, then copy and paste in the job description (only the parts about the job, not the parts about the company or benefits).

Job scan will provide insights on the match rate, formatting, keywords/skills match, and more.

Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Want to chat? Click here for a FREE 30-minute consultation

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